02 Jun 08 10:36, Cindy Haglund wrote to Roy Witt:


 RW>>  RW>> The people doing the building don't want to live in those
 RW>> little
 RW>>  RW>> shacks.

 CH>>  True of shacks but I'm talking about 2k to 3K sq ft. 3 to 5 bdrm/3
 CH>> to 4 bath...etc.

 RW>> Those are shacks. 5000 square feet is a minimum for them.

 CH>  You're joking. ? 5K square feet? Well we don't want or need a house
 CH> that big...  anyway.

My SIL, anticipating a large family when he got married, bought a 5300
sqft house in Austin. So far, they only have 4 dogs living with them.

 CH> How are you defining shack? To me a shack is a house poorly built and
 CH> in need of repair no matter HOW big it is. Or also called a dump.

Anything that doesn't reek of rich.

 CH> I'd rather have a small well built home than a big house anyday.
 CH> Easier to keep up with. :)
 CH> .........

 RW>> That's normal for California. You can reach out and actually touch
 RW>> your neighbor.

 CH> Ick. There's some subdivisions like that here in Orlando. And you
 CH> know here's a funny thing. SO many  areas named WInter this or that
 CH> for some reason . Winter Springs, Winter Gardens, Winter Park, WInter
 CH> run...

Ditto for California and Texas...probably because of the 'snow birds' who
come from the 'winter' states, looking for warmer winter.

 CH> By the way, seeking Israeli toasted couscous- we found it at "Fresh
 CH> Food Market in South Orlando.. coming back north, passing a
 CH> subdivision named 'Winter Run' there's "Texas Avenue". No kidding!

As well a Florida St in San Diego and a Pelican Pl and Snowy Egret Dr, in
New Braunfels, an area where there are no such birds.

 CH> .....

 CH>> anyway but still the closeness of these big houses to each other
 CH>> gives you the feeling of ' a bigger shack'.

 RW>> Here in Texas, we have lots of room to waste. My lot is 89 x 125 w/a
 RW>> 1450 sq ft cottage and some out buildings on it.

 CH>  That- is an affirm. Did you read about that company starting up with
 CH> teeny little two room houses? :) To use as motel rooms / short term
 CH> rentals. Talk about extremes. One end huge boxy 3K sqfters to teeny
 CH> 1000 or less..  I think the tiny are going for something like 60K.

Not really.

 CH> "We have a lots of room to waste" is a sad statement. Do you know
 CH> why? I bet you do. I don't want to get into it unless you do. HINT:
 CH> humans think the land is all for them. To heck with the rest of life
 CH> forms... ohokay I'll shut up now.

I don't think it's so sad. What animals we have around here share the land
anyway. There isn't a day that goes by where I don't see deer feeding on
someone's property. If it weren't for man, they may not even exist. Deer
are considered pests around here.

 CH> .....

 CH>> looks. Very deceptive in fact. These houses go up in five months.
 CH>> That's fast. The ground has no time to settle before the slab goes
 CH>> down. Crack crack crack...

 RW>> Wouldn't settling mean that they bulldozed and/or leveled the land
 RW>> before they built? I thought Florida was as flat as it can get.

 CH>  Settling means after bulldozing letting the disturbed ground settle
 CH> down. And no not all Texas or Florida is flat, actually builders
 CH> built IN little slopes and such to help with drainage... in Texas
 CH> anyway. The ground is different in the DFW area as you may know. It's
 CH> clay. Sand is used though pre sodding. ((The development our house is
 CH> in was built on a fill. There are ponds in the center..a swamp that
 CH> is.
 CH> .....

Driving across Texas, mountains are rare, except in the mountainous areas,
of course. The panhandle and points east are as flat as anywhere else. A
few hills in south-central Texas (Hill Country), but not what I would
consider an obstical to development.

 CH>> When we first moved to our Development in 2003 we were oen of the
 CH>> first houses there. A neighbor warned us about the plumbing. The
 CH>> builders hire the cheapest they can find. Sure enough we had
 CH>> plumbing problems. Got it fixed by the same company (this all under
 CH>> warrantee) but it wasn't a good fix. Hubby ended up fixing it
 CH>> himself which I must say was a better fix. (Involved sealing around
 CH>> the toilet in upstairs bathroom)... Sometimes it pays to do it
 CH>> yourself as long as you know what you're doing.

 RW>> That's a wax seal, so it's not hard to do.

 CH>> He's got electronics exp so wried a missing bulb socket in the
 CH>> utility room. It's amazing all the little oops that go undetected
 CH>> during inspection!

 RW>> I doubt that they inspect for what's supposed to be there as in
 RW>> fixtures, rather, they inspect wire routing and hook up to the
 RW>> mains.

 CH>> OH there was the gas leak from the stove nobody noticed. I smelled
 CH>> it and finally when the plumber came to do that fix on the toilet he
 CH>> did too and THEN we got the leak fixed. Funny that. Nobody noticed
 CH>> it during inspection. hmm. Not even me but at that time I wasn't
 CH>> looking.

 RW>> Maybe the gas wasn't on when you inspected it?


 CH> C: yeah that occurred to me except that the plumber said he had
 CH> noticed it too but didn't say anything. It was only when I demanded
 CH> it be checked that it got fixed. Sheeze. :( I think "inspection" is
 CH> for paper work only. They figure you're so happy to be getting a
 CH> house you won't notice anything til it's too late (past warrantee.)
 CH> ....

Perhaps the 'inspection' department is on the take.

 RW>> Been there and done that with our rental in California. Not being
 RW>> there and having an agency take care of it wasn't what we expected
 RW>> either. They didn't care about the property, just their 10% cut from
 RW>> the rent. Not to mentin that they wanted us to use their handy-man
 RW>> to fix things. I already had a taste of that when they cut the
 RW>> grass. $75

 CH>  Thanks for the confirmation on our doubts. IIRC the idea of renters
 CH> paying a deposit came about when some renters would damage the
 CH> property deliberately and sue the owner?

No...renters couldn't care less about 'your' property. Thus the 'security'
deposit, which can be refunded if the property is returned intact. Any
damages to it would of course come out of the deposit.

 CH> So the deposit is supposed to protect the owner from fraud?

It protects the property in that if there's damage to it by the renter,
there's money to repair it.

 CH> If you wreck the place e you don't get your deposit back. Of course
 CH> the Deposit has to be deep enough to cover for say replacing
 CH> floors/carpeting (the usual- most often damaged items.
 CH> Plumbing/fixtures and walls needing painting...)

My rental agreements always stated that the renter was to leave the
interior and exterior in the same condition as found on the first day of
occupancy. I had the interior and exterior painted, exterminated and
carpets cleaned. Had I been there to inspect it when they moved out,
that's the way I'd expect it to be. The rental agency gave them back their
deposit and the place was trashed.

 CH> Oh Now what builders do is spray paint everything inside the new
 CH> home/rental unit. So in doing that they replace the carpet no matter
 CH> what. Such waste! But that's how it these days. It's cheaper to be
 CH> wasteful.

And they probably charge a high rent to compensate for the cost.

 CH> Oh. If you buy a new home with crapeting, and want to lay wood
 CH> floors. Prepare to remove paint from the slab underneath.

In Florida, I wouldn't. That's probably a seal to keep out the water,
which I understand is just inches from the surface in Florida. When I was
13, I helped my grandfather build a house, complete with a cement walled
basement. Those walls were sealed inside and out to keep the basement from
getting mold from the dampness. Older, limestone basement walls would
sweat and cause the limestone to corrode away.

 CH> .........

 RW>> We were just told that there's a 'burn ban' that took affect
 RW>> yesterday. No rain for quite a while here. My yard is turning
 RW>> yellow.

 CH>  We had a sprinkle last evening. One of those quick showers with
 CH> thunder and lightening. Clears up , sun just about to set, long
 CH> enough to dry it all up. Feels like Texas  (The weather has been
 CH> just about the same this spring, only dryer HERE, not Texas. In the
 CH> 90's too....

Mid 90s and up here. No rain relief in sight, but at least it's cloudy in
the AM, keeping the evening and mornings cool (high 70s).

                R\%/itt



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